On the evening of Tuesday 18th December a group of young people, and some not quite so young people, connected with YMCA Teesdale visited the Manor House care home to give out gifts of hand-made Fiddle Mats to those living in the Chester’s wing.

Fiddle mats are an adult version of activity mats, hand-made from coloured and textured fabrics with items attached that can be moved, opened, stretched, etc to keep the hands of those living with dementia active and supple. The idea was brought, via a meeting of the Barnard Castle Dementia Friends Community Group to YMCA Teesdale by Mavis Willoughby – who used to make them before she moved to the town. Over the last few months Mavis has passed on her skills and ideas to a small group of ladies and young people within the YMCA, to begin making fiddle mats which would be distributed to those needing them locally, living either in care homes or with family members.

For some years now the YMCA has worked closely with the Manor House with Rebecca Pearson, YMCA youth worker responsible for the intergen project, offering monthly craft sessions where our young people help residents with various crafts. Rebecca has been working with that group to design and plan some fiddle mats. These were then passed on to the group of not quite so young people to do the sewing machine work to make then into sturdy fiddle mats. Sharing ideas, donated resources and enthusiasm during a regular Friday afternoon session at the YMCA, meant that, together, we soon had more than enough fiddle mats to be given out as Christmas presents.

We were made very welcome by the staff and residents of Chester’s, with Catherine Howard, their activities co-ordinator doing the introductions. It was lovely be able to spend time seeing the presents being opened and the mats explored by those receiving them.

In the New Year we will get on with making more mats, to be given out in another local care home, probably about Easter time. We also hope to encourage our young people, such as Reece and James (see photos) to learn how to do the machine sewing of the mats with the support of Rebecca and the ladies group.

YMCA Teesdale’s FIRST ever sleep easy is over with. Thank you to our fantastic participants who braved the freezing temperatures and everything that mother nature could throw at them. We have been able to raise close to £2,000 (on the night), a wonderful amount thanks to the generosity to all those who sponsored our brave (non) sleepers. Support from the community and businesses has been truly brilliant.

Posts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have received comments such as this from Kyle

“I’m so happy to see the YMCA doing stuff like this it’s amazing well done to all the workers and especially the men and women raising awareness and giving up there warm bed #supportingeachother“

Katie MacFarlane from The Northern Echo wrote the following piece on Friday (16th March)

“VOLUNTEERS supporting the YMCA charity in Teesdale will be sleeping rough tonight o raise awareness of homeless young people.

The group, which will also be joined by groups in North Tyneside and Ripon, are taking part in the national YMCA Sleep Easy Week campaign.”

“On the 16th March 2018 myself and 10 other participants took part in a Sleep Easy. When I first heard about the event I thought how hard can it be? You go to sleep outside and raise money for the homeless. How mistaken I was. The temperatures dropped to -2 with -6 wind chill. We had to deal with rain, snow and sleet, with nothing but a sleeping bag and a cardboard box. Waking up covered in ice is not a nice experience. People have said to me what an awful night to do this on, my reply, what a good night to do it on, to get the full experience of what some PEOPLE have to deal with 365 days a year.

By far the hardest element of the event for me was, not dealing with the cold but hearing people leaving the local pubs not knowing what reception you were going to get when they see you. We could hear them coming for what seemed like an age and then they were gone, and the relief when they passed us by without any disturbance was a real eye opener.

Many people believe to sleep rough is simply sleeping on the street, begging for money for food and a hot drink, but don’t consider the effect of not knowing if you’re going to be safe has on you. Not many people have had to deal with this, as we lock ourselves in our nice warm houses where we are safe.”

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Katie from The Northern Echo also produced this article on Monday 19th March

“THE plight of homeless people was brought to the fore on Friday night as volunteers braved the wind, rain and snow while sleeping rough in a church car park.

The 11 participants raised £2,000 for YMCA Teesdale as part of the charity’s national Sleep Easy Week”

Sleep Easy – 9 Days to go.

I went in to see Rachel today, just to talk things over about the Sleep Easy event, finding out about the bacon butties (i.e ‘Who’s making them’), coffee, tea and soup. At first she was calm and collected, as usual, until she realised that it was only 9 days togo. How time has flown it only seems like yesterday that we got the news that we could hold the event in St. Mary’s Church Car Park in Barnard Castle (the car park bollards will be raised for the night). If you haven’t signed up already you can do so here

Fruitful Communities project, saw a group of 10 young people take part in a project of learning about and planting fruit trees and bushes for the community. They have planted a variety of different trees and will be planting a number of fruit berry bushes later on in the coming months.

This is a project that YMCA Teesdale took some selling to the young people of Teesdale as they weren’t keen to get involved in to start with. When I spoke to them today (19th February), after the celebration event, they had really enjoyed the whole experience.

On top of the 5 sessions at TCR Hub, the girls have spent many a Wednesday evening with our youth worker, Carla, researching and planning different elements of the sessions. They have spent the last 5 months building up to this point.

As we see this project winding down and coming to a close, we look at the sustainability of continuing the work, keeping the links with TCR Hub and ensuring what the girls have started doesn’t start and end, but continues for both themselves, other young people, the community and YMCA.

Not all hard work, playtime too. Thanks to Jonny (Outdoor Pursuits & Facilities Manager TCR Hub) for keeping the young people safe on the water.

Fruitful Communities will also hold a special place in my heart. This is the first project that as Operations Director, we started and finished since I have started at YMCA Teesdale. It is a project close to my heart, not only for this reason but because it is one that supports a number of causes that I believe in; young people being part of the community and not a problem in it and because the project was focused around the benefits to the environment.

I am incredibly proud of what the young people have achieved in such a short space of time, proud of the youth work team, Carla in particular, for supporting the girls and dedicating so much time to the planning and delivery of the project. To the team behind the scenes, the volunteers from both YMCA and TCR Hub that supported the project.

This project has seen YMCA and TCR Hub work together to deliver a project that not only benefits the young people involved but the community and both organisations. I cannot speak for the team at TCR Hub, though for me, it has been a mutually beneficial and worthwhile partnership, one that I hope continues. It has seen the two organisations work together to overcome barriers for the project, look at sustainability of the work together and deliver a valuable project.

Partnership working is an important part of the work we do in Teesdale, we are all in this together and to ensure we serve the community in the most relevant, sustainable way.

An introduction to Rachel Dyne.

National

Rachel began her journey with the YMCA in March 2010 as a part time Young Carers Support Worker at YMCA Tees Valley . She quickly found a passion in the work YMCA does. Within a few months Rachel was working full time hours for the project. Rachel moved to London in 2013 to take on a new challenge, working with young homeless people in YMCA Romford (now YMCA Thames Gateway). She supported young people back to independent living through one to one work and group work. Rachel only gave up this work due her desire to return home, the North East.

International

Rachel has also taken part in a number of international opportunities that the YMCA has to offer young people. She has volunteered internationally for the YMCA since 2011. Rachel started on a peace work “Dialogue in Diversity” workshop in Bangladesh. Her passion for peace work has seen her involved in the School of Peace in India. Later, Rachel was part of the planning team for the Peace Work Institute for YMCA Europe.

As well as peace work, Rachel has taken part in a number of leadership development opportunities including the 1st cohort of World YMCA Change Agents. This programme saw young people from YMCA’s all over the world delivering sessions at the World Council at The Rockies YMCA, Colorado in 2014. Since then Rachel has worked with colleagues from YMCA Ireland and YMCA Kosovo to deliver youth work training to young people in all three countries through exchanges and training.

One of Rachel’s highlights has been delivering the World YMCA’s One Million Voices Research. With colleagues from YMCA’s across the world at the United Nations EcoSoc (Economic and Social Council) Forum in New York in 2016.

A few words from Rachel.

“I’m very excited about this new challenge and the future of YMCA Teesdale. I have been with the YMCA for 7 years and have always carried the stories of young people that I have been privileged to hear with me. I look forward to hearing many more as I head into the future. The YMCA is the oldest and largest youth charity in the world and I believe that we have a duty to ensure that the YMCA is present and serving the community today and for future generations to come.”

A warm welcome from the YMCA community in Teesdale. We know that you’re going to enjoy your time here.

Macmillan – World’s Biggest Coffee Morning

YMCA Teesdale’s Community Cafe is hosting Macmillan’s annual ‘World’s Biggest Coffee Morning’. Come along and enjoy a coffee and a slice of cake knowing those extra calories are helping a worthwhile cause.

As the merger of YMCA Teesdale and YMCA North Tyneside gathers pace, so does our need for volunteers. We are asking our community to help. We have volunteering places available within our Youth Work, Cafes and Retail shop or maybe you’d like to consider becoming a Trustee.

If you can not volunteer at this time but still wish to help, please consider making a donation here.

How to get in touch

N.BExternal links are selected and reviewed when the page is published. However, YMCA Teesdale is not responsible for the content of any external websites and does not endorse any products that they may offer.

As the merger of YMCA Teesdale and YMCA North Tyneside gathers pace, so does our need for volunteers. We are asking our community to help. We have volunteering places available within our Youth Work, Cafes and Retail shop or maybe you’d like to consider becoming a Trustee.

If you can not volunteer at this time but still wish to help, please consider making a donation here.

Community Cafes

We have 2 coffee shops. One at the Cockfiled Community Centre in Lipscomb Hall and another YMCA Coffee Shop at the Randolph Centre in Evenwood. As with many coffee shops they can become very busy at times. Each cafe have different opening times and days. These can be found out by looking at the separate pages by the clicking on the names above.

Duties would include

Interacting with members of the public.

Taking orders.

Preparing food.

Baking.

Taking payments.

Cleaning.

Support community members using the facilities available.

(A knowledge of computers is desirable, but certainly not necessary. Only at our Cockfield cafe)

If you are interested in volunteering in our busy coffee shops please get in touch.

Barnard Castle YMCA Charity Shop

YMCA Teesdale is extremely proud of Barnard Castle YMCA charity shop. YMCA Teesdale and YMCA Barnard Castle Charity Shop work in partnership, for example, a proportion of the money raised in the shop, through the sale of donated goods, is used to help transform the lives of the young people in our community.

Our shop sells a huge range of items. Second-hand retro goods, high street and designer clothing, accessories, books and also have a small selection of furniture plus so much more.

We have a number of volunteer opportunities at our YMCA shop.

Sorting and preparing clothes or furniture for sale.

Back office duties – steaming, pricing and sorting stock.

Using the till.

Arranging collections of donated items.

Selling goods.

Interacting with members of the public.

Representing YMCA on the high street.

Our shop gets very busy and we are in real need of YOU. Please get in touch and help.

How to get in touch

If you are interested in volunteering please call in to the shop for an application form or download it here.